A Second Chance
by Lady-Deathfire
Summary: When Optimus and several other Autobots come down with a strange illness they have a second chance at their lives before the war.
1. Chapter 1

Optimus was trying to focus on what Teletran-1 was telling him but it was hard. His thoughts kept drifting to other things. Things that happened before they were in this war...Someone was calling his name and shaking him.

"Prime? Prime! You okay man?" Jazz said next to him.

"Fine Jazz. I'm just a bit distracted." Ironhide looked at him carefully.

"You ain't lookin' so good Prime. You should go see Ratchet pronto," Ironhide said as he patted Optimus's shoulder. "Last thing we need is you goin' haywire."

Optimus went out the door and slowly walked down the hall. His thoughts began to drift again to what had happened before he became Prime.

* * *

Sunstreaker was bored. Sideswipe was off on guard duty, the videogames and movies had all been commandeered, a.k.a. stolen, by either the Dinobots or the Aerialbots, and he had already waxed himself today. 

This was probably why he was just wandering the hallways, much to the annoyance of Red Alert. As he turned the corner he thought he heard something and then he saw it. Optimus was lying on the ground and wasn't moving.

"Prime!" Sunny ran over and tried to lift him, but after that failed he called Ratchet.

"Sunstreaker what's going on?"

"It's Prime! He's unconscious on level C corridor 78."

"I'll be right there."

* * *

Prime was lying on a table still unconscious. Even Ratchet, after a thorough examination, couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. That's when things went from bad to worse. 

Ironhide stumbled into the infirmary holding up an unconscious Jazz, and then after they placed Jazz on another table Ironhide passed out, then Sunny and finally Ratchet. Before Ratchet fell he contacted someone. "First Aid. Get to the infirmary but don't touch anything. Just examine us. The last thing we want is this to spread."

"But Ratchet what do we not want to spread?" Then the transmission ended.

* * *

Sideswipe, Wheeljack, Bumblebee, Prowl, and First Aid all sat around the various Mechs in the infirmary. With a little help from Trailbreaker they were able to get Ratchet on to a table like the others. 

"Slag it guys! What's wrong with them?" Sideswipe yelled as he looked at his brother. The normal happy visage was gone. Now he looked to be on the verge of tears.

"Sideswipe if we knew that we wouldn't be sitting here would we?" Bumblebee muttered as he and Prowl held a constant vigil over Prime. Prowl looked up and said what everyone was thinking.

"We just have to wait. First Aid and Wheeljack didn't find much that could tell us what's going on." This seemed to subdue everybody. Then Sideswipe asked another question.

"Do you think they can hear us?"

"I don't know Sideswipe, but these neural functions are erratic. Whatever is going on in their, it must be bad," Wheeljack said as he watched his friends.

_In Optimus's dream_

"Orion! There you are," Ariel said as she ran up to him.

"Ariel!" he smiled as he hugged her tightly and gave her a kiss.

"Orion, are you okay? You just seem so happy."

"But I am. This is...the happiest day of my life." He hugged her again. _'I have you back...I have my life back...'_


	2. Chapter 2

Ch.2 

"But Orion what's so special?" Ariel asked as he let her go.

"Nothing. It's just a normal day," Orion said, still grinning.

"Well, come on! Dion found something he wanted to show us."

"You go ahead; I'll be there in an astro-second."

"Okay..." She left. Orion looked at the Cybertron he had known. Every building was a shining beacon of purity and even the air seemed cleaner. He was home...but where had he been?

_Jazz's dream_

Jazz carefully stepped into the old building. It was ready to fall apart at any moment, but it was ignored by the Decepticons. It was therefore the perfect place for bots to hide during the Decepticon raids.

From the looks of it though none of the others had arrived. _'I hope Streamline and Oilslick got their twins out. Those kids shouldn't be out in this no matter how brave they are.'_ One of the twins in question, he remembered, had run out of the building to get an art kit he dropped.

Jazz tried to comm. them but all he got was static. "Come on guys! Where are ya?" Then he heard something in the back corner. He drew his rifle and carefully stepped over toward it.

In the corner were the twins Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. They were crouching next to what looked to be...

"Oh Primus..." The twins looked up and then ran over and hugged his legs. They were still so little, too little to see this. They had been crouching next to their mother, Streamline, who was now an all too familiar shade of gray.

_Ironhide's Dream_

A little red and white sparkling ran up to him. "Papa! You're home!" Ironhide scooped her up and gave her a hug.

"Sure am! Have you been a good girl?" he said looking at her.

"Yep! Mama's been keeping me out of trouble."

"Where is your mother?" Ironhide asked as he set her down still grinning.

"She's in recharge."

"We best not wake her then. Come on let's get inside. I'm freezing my diodes off."

_Sunstreaker's Dream_

Sunstreaker was standing in the street when he heard something run up behind him. Then whatever it was grabbed him and he heard a familiar voice.

"Hey bro! What're you doing in the street? Mom's got something to show us!"

Sunstreaker turned his head and there, giving him a huge smile, was Sideswipe.

"What is it?" he asked eagerly.

"I don't know but we should find out! Come on!" he said grabbing Sunstreaker's arm and pulling. Inside were their two parents smiling, this was a rare sight for the twins. Ever since the Decepticons had started their raids nobody smiled.

_Ratchet's Dream_

"Ratchet buddy! Wake up!" a voice shouted above him.

Ratchet bolted up sending a data-pad flying as he did. "Huh?" He looked at the speaker and saw, "Wheeljack? What time is it?"

"Time for you to get up. Your final is in a few astro-hours and you need to study."

"I studied last night didn't I?"

"Drinking your weight in oil and passing out on your notes doesn't count as studying Ratchet."

"Fine." He lifted himself and picked up the data-pad. On it was something about diseases that affected the mind, but this data-pad didn't even belong to him. "Wheeljack is this yours?" Wheeljack looked at it carefully.

"Nope. It's not mine. Maybe you picked up someone else's."

"Guess you're right. I'll return it after the final." He picked it up along with his notes and started to leave.

"I thought you were going to study!"

"I am! I'm just going to do so where it's quieter."


End file.
